Arab al-Bawati

Arab al-Bawati (Arabic: عرب البواطي/خربة الحكمة‎), was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Arab al-Bawati

عرب البواطي/خربة الحكمة
Village
Etymology: Kh. el Hakeimîyeh, the ruin of el Hakeimîyeh[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Arab al-Bawati (click the buttons)
Arab al-Bawati
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°31′41″N 35°32′21″E
Palestine grid200/214
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictBaysan
Date of depopulation16 or 20 May 1948[2]
Area
 • Total10,641 dunams (10.641 km2 or 4.109 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total520[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall

It was located 4 kilometres north east of Baysan in the Baysan valley.

History

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Kh. el Hakeimiyeh as having "ruined walls and a few modern deserted houses - a small deserted village."[5]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Bawati had a population of 348 Muslims,[6] increasing in the 1931 census to 461, (under the name of 'Arab Hakamiya) still all Muslims, in 86 houses.[7]

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 520 Muslims[3] with a total of 10,641 dunums of land.[4] That year Arabs used 2,225 dunams of village lands for plantations and irrigated land, 3,335 for cereals,[8] while 52 dunams were classed as uncultivable.[9]

1948 and aftermath

Many of the villagers left early in the war, apparently after a Haganah attack.[10][11] The village was destroyed on May 16, or May 20, 1948.[2] Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and the land was left undeveloped; the nearest village is Hamadia.

In 1992, it was described: "All of the village houses have been demolished. The remains of basalt stone walls and the square and circular foundations of buildings can be seen among the weeds."[12] Evidence of historic occupation includes Roman milestones and ruined buildings at the Khirbat al Bawati.[12]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 162
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #135. Also gives cause of depopulation, with a "?"
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 6
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 43
  5. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 122
  6. Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
  7. Mills, 1932, p. 79
  8. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 84
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 134
  10. Morris, 2004, p. 132, note #543
  11. Morris, 2004, p. 160, note #543
  12. Khalidi, 1992, p. 42

Bibliography
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